How the Cowboys' leaky defense allowed Washington free rein (2024)

There have been weeks when the Cowboys defense has given up more points and yards than it did during the most recent trip to Washington, but I would put this performance right next to the rest of them. It’s hard to find a path that leads to optimism or good feelings.

This is a very bad defense.

Week after week, we see some of the opponents’ biggest plays resulting from attacks on what the Cowboys do worst. Organization is generally something we look for in offices or closets, but in sports, organization is the very foundation of how you wish to tactically run your operation. The Cowboys are not organized as a defense. In other words, in an era when defensive assignments have best been cliched as “do your job,” the Cowboys do not seem to have 11 players who know their job — or can do it. Either way, that has been sniffed out, and teams are routinely attacking them in areas where their leaks were exposed weeks before.

Cleveland found all sorts of gap assignments and classic conflicts during their rout of the Cowboys. The very next week, the Giants tried to play against that, but perhaps lacked the talent to fully execute it in their depleted state. Arizona used the confusion that motion and movement cause the Cowboys defense, as they utilize miscast players at key positions in a new defense. The Cardinals made Dallas look silly on Monday Night.

Washington was watching, and new offensive coordinator Scott Turner sprung some traps that he knew Dallas would fall into.

It is one thing if you are just being beaten because you are not good enough. I think the offense’s story will fall under that heading much more as the injuries have torn apart this proud offensive line.

On defense, however? We can argue they lack premium talent, but right now, they lack the simple basics to get run fits and do their own job. There are some clear fundamentals taught at every level of football, and I promise Mike Nolan teaches them. You could hear the defeat in his voice last week as he referenced “leading a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink.” He was describing the insanity of that Kenyan Drake touchdown when he had four defenders for two gaps and Drake still went untouched late in the game.

The players are looking at the coaches. The coaches are looking at the players. (Though at least they’re not leaking their incompetence to reporters.)

This is ugly, and Washington kept turning the knife.

Let me show you a snap or two that indicate what I am talking about.

1Q – 11:49 – 2nd and 9

I do want to say that this is a great design by Scott Turner, but it is only drawn up because he knows the Cowboys defense has trouble handling standard run plays. On top of that, motion, eye candy and adding gaps during the play throws them way off. Like the offense dealing with blitzing, the more nonsense you put on tape, the more you see it every week. Teams love low-hanging fruit.

24-Gibson is highlighted, as are the LG and the outside WR, who will become lead blockers on this misdirection play.

Dallas has their gaps, but the key here will be whether they can figure out the added-on gaps of the motion and leads up front.

I want to be clear: There are almost no Cowboys doing great work here, so I don’t mean to leave anyone out. It starts here as Kyle Allen makes a decent fake; this looks like speed option to his left with a running back behind him occupying 97-Griffen, 54-Smith, 37-Wilson and, yes, 25-Woods. I think 97 and 37 must stay on it, but I am not sure why 54 is not keying his guard, who is headed to the offensive right. Woods is also absolutely stuck on that direction, and we will see why that is a problem in a frame or two.

A moment later, 92-Armstrong is getting blocked by a tight end, which cannot happen. 55-Vander Esch has gone under a block of the RT, and when you do that, you had better get there. Otherwise, we will say that is a poor fundamental play. LVE looks slower than usual, so I admire his toughness, but he busted several times in this game, too. 26-Lewis and 30-Brown must join the action here or the team is screwed. They did not distinguish themselves.

Lewis has to set the edge and get north, but he waits on the block, and even though the picture says he is in a decent spot, he has no chance to make this tackle. And 30-Brown has elected not to get upfield, nor engage his blocker, but instead retreat. He has no chance. Finally, 25-Woods has not made it one inch closer to the line despite there being a zero percent chance of a pass play. What in the world is he doing? I have no idea. But, wait, it gets worse.

Woods took such a poor angle that he actually had to completely turn his back. As opposed to trying to blow up Gibson at the turn, he escorted him for much of the 40 yards he ran in some sort of ridiculous convoy.

Yikes and more yikes. So bad.

Next drive:

1Q – 3:53 – 2nd and 3

This one really hurt me because Washington is not complicating anything and the Cowboys are lined up correctly. This will be a give to Gibson, who is right behind Kyle Allen and will look for a gap right up the gut.

But Washington knows what eye candy does. 55-LVE is moving to his spot to turn the RB back inside. Poe is doing alright here, and Hamilton is getting blocked too easily, but I think this is 54-Smith and 37-Wilson again. The cross action causes Smith to peel out and go get the bird flying through his vision, leaving a hole that would fit an F-150 through in the next frame.

This, I promise, is the same play a moment later. Look how far out the defense has followed the action. This is OK, I suppose, if 37 fills the gap 54 vacated, but instead he appears to be going with him! Now, the rest are blocked up — it would be amazing to get a DT who could win a block at some point — and Gibson cannot believe how easy it is to run, since Washington’s ground game has mostly found futility this year.

Fade to black. It is 15-3 in the first quarter, and this game is over because the offense cannot score 15 points right now.

WEEKLY DATA – WEEK 7

Once again, no takeaways, no resistance on third down and no splash plays. This is a defeated defense. A few days ago, I was asked on my radio show to name four players who they could dismiss.

I said Everson Griffen, Dontari Poe, Daryl Worley and probably Jourdan Lewis.

Since then, the first three have been let go. Griffen was traded; Poe and Worley will be released if no team will deal for them. If you want the Cowboys to try new players, you are about to see some. Just don’t expect blue-chip replacements until the spring.

QB NEXT-GEN THROW CHART

I like Kyle Allen’s game as an NFL stopgap. He is a very smart, competitive player who will not do many silly things. I think Washington can win some games with him, which is more than Dwayne Haskins offered. That move is a no-brainer.

EXPLOSIVES

Dallas managed only four explosives on Sunday, but we know that aside from the McLaurin touchdown, many plays were avoidable. McLaurin versus Diggs was a decent matchup, but we must give the Washington deep threat his due. He is very good, and Diggs is taking some lumps.

Splash Plays – Week 7 – Washington

Splash plays are drying up. This defense is not playing well or with aggression. They have to get an edge back because there is a long way to go. I believe extracting some veterans who have mailed it in is a good start. Single-digit splash plays every week is substandard, and they need to inject some life into the group.

I want to share something that I’ve talked about with David Newbury, my friend at the Ticket, for years. It is basically that big defensive plays are pretty clearly determined by the game situation.

In other words, about a third of total plays generate over half of the sport’s takeaways and sacks. They come down to one thing: the scoreboard. If you are ahead by four points or more, a massive percentage of the big defensive plays result. Why? Because you now control the game.

If you want to make plays on defense, you simply need a lead. I realize this is intuitive to a certain degree, but it might also explain Dallas being dead last in interceptions this year and struggling to generate a pass rush.

You can’t do either if you are always behind. Why would an opponent be forced to do anything uncomfortable if they are playing with the lead?

Dallas has played 93 percent of their snaps outside of that range (up four points or more). There have been just 36 plays all season out of 475 that would apply. That is incredibly bad.

This isn’t to say it is not their fault, but there is a massive correlation in the NFL between sacks or interceptions and the game score when they happen.

In 2014, 2016 and 2018, the Cowboys defense often looked amazing. I believe there is plenty of evidence to support the fact that this appeared more because they were blessed with an offense that took early leads. The playing field then tilted.

That had a real chance to happen again in 2020, but it was sabotaged early with all of the careless giveaways and then, of course, the injuries depleted the offense so badly they can barely cross midfield.

Now, with no offensive support, they have to figure out how to generate plays from behind. Since their opponents have a brain, they stay out of the situations that expose the ball because they are bossing the game.

So, below, I wanted to show you my database. This is a lot of info, but if you are interested, plenty of conclusions can be drawn.

The top half features the entire NFL. It shows all defensive plays and then three categories: sacks, strip-sacks (sacks with a fumble) and interceptions. Immediately following each category is the frequency relative to the number of snaps. The score situation for the defense is listed on the left.

For instance, when behind by any number, a sack occurs every 32.8 snaps. When up 10 points, it is every 20.4 snaps. Interceptions take place once every 101.6 snaps when tied or trailing, but up a touchdown, an interception happens every 56.7 snaps. That is extremely significant.

Then, below, here are the Cowboys for the same stretch:

The chart will show you that over a five-year stretch, Dallas is right at the league average rates in sacks. They are lagging behind in interceptions, which is consistent with everything we already know. That is a good sign for our research.

Now, look at how all of the rates drop considerably with just a simple score situation. This makes intuitive sense because, of course, defenses do not make play calls. They are subject to the whims of the offense’s desires. And if an offense has a double-digit lead, they will never do anything remotely risky to allow the opponent back in the game.

What conclusions should you draw?

Offense and defense are tied together. Offense makes defense easier. Defense makes offense easier. We know this, but we also forget it when it is time to place blame.

This is from one of my text exchanges with Newberry years ago. It was a study of JJ Watt during his best years. Did he have a bad year in 2013, or did the Texans just not ever have the type of leads that precede sacks and interceptions?

It certainly doesn’t remove the defense from responsibility, but it might explain why DeMarcus Lawrence vacillates between years with big plays and other years he “seems quiet.” I think most would admit in years like this, there are too many quiet days from the big-play defenders, but how much is because they are facing teams who are not ever risking sacks or giveaways because they are always up 10 points?

There is not much good news, but think about how defenses generate big plays. When you are watching teams and wondering about how to get takeaways, the answer is play with the lead.

Like rushing the ball 20 times, sometimes we confuse causation and correlation.

Teams that get takeaways don’t always win because of it. Rather they get takeaways because they are winning.

(Photo: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports)